Oldest World -- My 6 year old baby brainchild

Greetings, one and all! I am very new here.

Those introductions aside, I am in the late stages of working on a fully-fleshed out system and setting, for which medieval fantasy is optimal. I have set up a GoFundMe to help me along the way, but it hasn't gotten much visibility. I was hoping that people here might be interested in hearing about it, seeing as I've been working on it almost 24/7 for a long time, despite job difficulties and illness. There's a lot there, a lot to love I hope, and a lot to critique I'm sure.

So, who's interested in hearing more?

I'd like to hear more.

I'd be happy to hear more about it

Alright, I'm sure we'll pull in more people along the way. Two is definitely a good start. I'll begin with a brief description of the mission statement and core rules, then I can start taking questions.

(What follows is protected by the Creative Commons)

Oldest World was started on three simple guidelines. One, it needs to be more about facilitating roleplay with a reasonably light-moderate system of rules, that places the work on the Game Master and not the players. Two, the magic system needs to be a dynamic living thing where instead of preparing and casting named spells, the players say what they want to do (e.g. throw a 15 ft. boulder at an enemy 60 ft. away with enough force to kill) and the magic rules will show the Game Master how to govern that process with dice rolls and other limitations. Three, creatures populating the world cannot be stolen from popular media and things outside the public domain (i.e. hobbits, ents, orcs all being created exclusively by Tolkien, having not existed in myth before that). Furthermore on rule 3, the creatures will be inspired by as old and public-domain of legends as possible, drawing from many corroborating sources, then designed from the ground up to be a special part of the setting.

Oldest World eschews the presence of the d20 entirely. Characters have six Virtues ranking in a range from 1 to 9. The rank of 4 is about average for most humans, but 3 is unusually weak and 5 is heroically strong. Past that, the lesser and far greater ranks do not symbolize what a normal person should be able to attain, but the levels of power held by monsters and "gods." Being exemplary is instead a matter of gaining temporary boosts and reductions to one's Virtues, which have a limited effect on how much better rolls get in certain circumstances. The Six Virtues of LEGEND are: Leon, Eyrie, Grand, Enlight, Nemesis, and Daimon. While they can be understood as very similar to Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma, they are far more than that. The physical three also have a mental side, and the mental three also have a physical side; all six are primarily spiritual in nature, meaning that excelling in one is not a matter of being truly stronger or smarter than other people, but being a prime example of that quality to the spirits who embolden one's powers.

The Virtues of LEGEND operate on the power of six Heroic Spirits, which go by the names assigned to each virtue. They favor different kinds of people, and will grant them enormous power to change the world if they are deemed worthy. The average human may have a 4 in any given Virtue, but only gains benefit from one of them in this way. Leon, the Heroic Lion Spirit, favors the enraged, destructive, and careless; not merely the strong. Eyrie, the Heroic Wing Spirit, favors the violent, skilled, and graceful; not merely the dextrous. Grand, the Heroic Beast Spirit, favors the enduring, the brave, and those dominated by subtler vices like Gluttony and Sloth. Enlight, the Heroic Sun Spirit, favors the intelligent, it is true, but specifically those who seek to gain and share knowledge with others and seek the enlightenment of all. Nemesis, the Heroic Conflict Spirit, seeks out those engaged in battle between their good and evil, their enlightenment and deception, and those who gain unusual secrets through the conflict. Daimon, the Heroic Hooded Spirit, favors the trickster, those who can deceive others and benefit themselves through more power than they actually have. None of these are literal good or evil forces in their entirety.

If your primary (highest selected) Virtue is Leon, you are automatically assigned the Juggernaut basic class. The same goes for Eyrie and the Fury basic class, Grand and the Atlas basic class, Enlight and the Judge basic class, Nemesis and the Sage basic class, or Daimon and the Aesthete basic class. More on that later.

Any questions so far?

Sounds very interesting. Love how you have done attributes!

It sounds like a fascinating concept. I've always loved the concept of a free-form magic system and have often thought of working on one, but it's such a daunting concept! I also love the focus on RP and the original ideas you've presented

Thanks, both of you! Anything you want to hear about next? I've got lots of material: more on the player races, how the classes work, the magic system...

Start with the basics (Races) and then move up from there :)

As you wish. :)

The first thing to know about the playable Races in my system is that they are ranked on power. The Game Master is strongly advised not to allow the higher levels unless both they and the other players are willing and ready to share a game with someone that will likely unbalance gameplay. These levels are Low, Moderate, High, and Very-High.

The Low Power Races are sampled from the Human, Siir, and Rafa
Humans are what you know them as, to a certain degree, but instead of being a single (basic) race, they are subdivided into several meaningful groups. The low power ones are Rudhir, Galura, Zeel, Jasil, Sini, Porph, and Neutrati, and include some Swill and Felbreed.

The first six are from a group called the Purebleed, or Pureblooded People. The ancestors of humanity were given certain gifts by the Heroic Spirits, reflected by a change in the color of their blood. These gifts reflected the strengths and weaknesses of how the human subraces developed.

The Rudhir, or Red-Blooded People, were notable for being superhumanly stronger than other humans, but of weak minds. Aside from mere physical power, the Lion Spirit liked them because they were more destructive and wrathful than other humans. Fewer women and children were as destructive as the men, and this, rather than actual strength, is reflected in their stats.

The Galura, or Orange-Blooded People, were notable for their vast powers of abstract thought, will, and magical potential, but were less swift or skillful than the others. The Conflict Spirit liked them because their morality was very clearly bifurcated, with most people being incapable of the same acts of depravity that their delinquents and criminals committed; also, their magic prospects were very powerful and set apart, while the rest had zero magical skill whatsoever, no grey areas.

The Zeel, or Yellow-Blooded People, were fast, good at physical skills, and often quite violent. Unlike their destructive cousins, the Rudhir, these people kept the collateral damage to a minimum, and fine-tuned their murderous impulses into lethal martial combat. A Red-Blood is fun to watch, from a very safe distance; a Yellow-Blood is much more effective, but boring to watch. While they gained the favor of the Wing Spirit, few of their people have any real magical potential, and tend to suck at problem solving.

The Jasil, or Green-Blooded People, had no gifts of strength or speed, and tended to be ugly and ignorant of social graces. However, the Beast Spirit favored them for their resilience in battle, their quick mending, resistance to poison and disease, and their typical potential to live a long time. While resistant to most non-magical threats, they are not known for being all that effective against magical manipulation. Many of them are practically immortal in normal conditions, but marked by a prominent curse placed on them long ago by some ancient wizard or inhuman creature.

The Sini, or Blue-Bloods, are the polar opposite of the Jasil. They tend to be silver-tongued and beautiful, if somewhat sickly, and have learned to defend their frail lives and beautiful art with advanced weapons and excellent skill. The Hooded Spirit favors them as more refined, and deceptive, than the more "primitive" or gullible races.

The Porph, or Violet-Bloods, are everything the Rudhir are not, and somewhat rare as a result. The Sun Spirit has set them apart early in human history, because they are weak, but vastly more intelligent than the others. They value study, logic, and truth, but also the power to shape the truth with their advanced magic.

These six Purebleeds also have a rare defect they share: the Bright-Blood. While colorfully named, the six do not actually look that different on average. Rudhir have "normal" blood to our eyes, the Galura and Zeel have more of a rust color to their blood, and the Jasil and Sini have more of a pale color. The Porph are strange, because their blood is a bright bluish-purple and does not seem red at all. But if a person has the rare Bright-Blood trait, their blood has a bold, paint-like color as explained by the name of their race. Along with it, their race's typical gift is far stronger, and their typical weakness suffers. For example, a Bright-Blooded Rudhir is not simply on bodybuilder level, but able to hoist a draft horse or wagon over their head and hurl it many yards without trouble; as a twist, the poor creature is rather foolish.

Hi, this looks interesting.

So there's a Purebreed person, let's say a Sini.
How strongly does this define culture?
How strongly does this define personal attitude?

They 'tend to be' is rather vague.

The vagueness is intentional, as this is merely a reference to my actual written work, instead of being written out in all the detail my real documents are in. Doesn't mean I can't elaborate though, so hold on.

The gifting of the six is a prominent influence on a personal level, but I'd say no more important to a culture than its other features. Each of the six Virtues has special powers to offer, but you only get the powers of your strongest Virtue (or the most relevant one to your character, in event of a tie). There are things most people can do, like push an object or read a book, but then there are special things not every normal citizen gets. For the Rudhir, that is their three powers: strength from long hair a la Samson, destructive attacks and movement, and a fearsome voice.

The long hair note means that, even if a normal Rudhir doesn't have heroic powers, long hair is still probably a status symbol in Rudhir cultures. Might mean that some cultures chop off hair to demean or punish someone. Most Rudhir probably wouldn't notice how destructive their actions are unless compared to "weaker" beings; this is because not every Rudhir shatters the ground as they run, just the heroic ones, so they'll think of that action as being "typical" of their greatest warriors, and will look down on warriors of non-Rudhir people as not being able to do that. Finally, a Rudhir's intimidating voice is based on their Leon stat, so it doesn't really work too well on each other.

The cultural trend is more based on the overarching theme of the three powers. Cultures with solely or mainly Rudhir citizens will be built around power and intimidation, and thus tend to be less civilized. When they are, it is because their culture has destroyed all civilized competition and picked up the pieces left behind, similar to Saiyans in Dragonball.

The theme of the three Zeel powers is Avian. They've got a sight-based power, a swift movement power, and a related power that lets them glide, so they will probably build structures taller and farther apart, with larger rooms on the lower levels. They probably also have a great respect for high places and birds, though this is not necessarily the case for all. I'll stop here a moment to explain that these six are not "1 race to 1 culture." Rather, there are several cultures that exemplify each subrace, some that have multiple, and some that prefer not to distinguish citizens by the six Purebleed subraces at all.

As for personal attitude, that depends how much one would use their powers. A scholarly Porph with the powers of the Judge class might not use them all that often, in comparison to their spells, or may not even use magic except in emergencies. When looking at the behaviors of an individual or their whole culture, humans become more homogeneous, and similar to real life or other fantasy settings, with the distinction being that some citizens define themselves on one or more of their fantastic traits; others do not.

But more on the powers of the six basic classes later. For now, I'll move back to a survey of the races.

Aside from the Purebleed section, we also have the Modified and Impure sections. A Modified human is someone who seems human but comes from different origins, or someone who was a Purebleed but lost that quality by changing their anatomy. Perhaps the change was an accident, or perhaps it was done on purpose. We'll see most of the Modified in higher power levels, but the subrace of interest at Low Power is the Neutrati, also known as the Whitebloods.

The Neutrati are the result of an experiment to eradicate enslavement of "real" humans. These experiments were to breed a servile creature with all the same capabilities as humans, since robotics was not advanced to a level where such servants could be built. It was determined that anything "too human" would resist enforced servitude, so secret labs blended elements from human flesh, animals, plant life, and even fungi, to create a being with no free will. Such a being would hypothetically be very similar to humans physically, and even able to pass as one if needed, but would follow orders without question. They have come to be called "White-Bloods" because they lack any of the spiritual gifts the Purebleeds have, and what runs through them is only distantly related to the compound in human veins -- the result being a pale, almost colorless or transparent liquid.

The Neutrati have no males or females, nor secondary sexual characteristics, and do not have children. They are produced from semi-organic laboratory pods in a fully mature state. That is what is known about them by the Purebleed humans; everything else, including the question of "Do they truly have free will?" is a secret held by their creators or by the Neutrati themselves. Without the spiritual gifts, they have a fairly baseline set of stats for gameplay, as one might expect from humans in most games. While they have features that are different from humans, such as cells that are chitinous like those of fungi, these differences are not well-known in game, and not sufficient to make them play differently except as a roleplay choice. If a player were to desire a character that is gender-neutral, comes from an oppressive background, and plays near identically to humans without actually being one, then the Neutrati is an excellent choice.

You really put a lot of effort into this, that shows.
I'm still unclear on this culture / genetics (/ or what?) line, so I'll ask from a different angle, if you don't mind.

Is being a Zeel a cultural thing or in the blood?
Do the Avian powers of the Zeel come from personal outlook, from the bloodline or from the highest Virtue?
Is it possible to change these powers (intentionally or not) during one's life?

Ah, I appreciate the clear questions. It is very similar to genetics, but works on a spiritual level instead of physical. If two Zeel have a child, it will absolutely be a Zeel, 100%. If two Purebleeds of different kinds mix, it becomes a Swill immediately, and the child will have no Purebleed descendants. Because of this, countries can have multiple Purebleed lines, but this will lead to an exponential increase of Swill population anywhere the two mix. To be CLEAR, mixed ethnicities do not cause this; two white people will create a Swill if one is a Rudhir and the other is a Porph, or any such combination. Likewise a white person and a person of color, both Zeel, will produce a Zeel that has the same mixed-race genes such a child normally would.

The special powers are a spiritual gift, which any Zeel can have, but not every Zeel does. "Heroes" (basically the player characters and anyone designed by GM to be a fair match for them) will have the powers. And no, it is not possible to gain new powers, because the spirits do not revoke their gifts and grant new ones. I suppose they could in extremely rare, one-in-a-million circumstances, but it's more likely you'd just lose your powers and get nothing back. What happens instead is that a Zeel who is unnaturally intelligent and not as fast could get the Enlight Virtue's mind-over-matter powers instead of the avian ones. That switch happens from the very beginning and is not reversible.

(sorry for the delay; I had no opportunity to write an away post prior to traveling)

Did that answer your question well, or is there another angle I can approach it from?

I am interested in how your mechanics will work. I like the reimagining of character stats into the 6 Virtues using a scale of 1 to 9 and where player characters generally fall in between the 3 to 5 range. How will these Virtues play out in combat, skill checks, feats of strength or whatever? How will rolls of the d20 be modified or interpreted from these Virtues of 1 to 9?

Excellent questions!

To begin with, the d20 is not used at all! The Virtues have Power Values (or PV for short) with a dice chart. I won't go into it here, but PV 1 uses 2d4, while PV 9 uses 8d8, and the others fall into the area between. For example, the average human value is a 4, which makes all its rolls with 3d6.

There are two ways to roll, depending on what you're trying to do. Skills are rolled normally. Roll 3d6, add the values together, and add your skill bonus if you have one relevant. For most other rolls, it is Success based. A roll of 1 on a die is Failure, any other result is a Success. You add up the Successes, and either ignore Failures or subtract them, depending on what the rules state for that situation. For example, roll 3d6, get 1, 2, 6, that's two successes. While there is a chart for what difficulty is represented by what successes, most situations will state in the rules what is needed, and the GM can easily make up their own requirements. They might say, "Oh, you want to lift the wagon wheel off your teammate? That needs 3 successes on a Leon roll."

If any roll has two Failures, that is called a Botch. Where Failures are normally ignored, a Botch means something bad happens. If you needed two successes, rolled 4d6, and got 1, 1, 2, 3, you would still succeed. But something bad would complicate matters. You might bash yourself and take damage, or "nearly fail" and need to make some other kind of roll; there's all kinds of possibilities.

If your roll is all Failures, that is called an Utter Failure (i.e. getting 1, 1, 1, on a 3d6 roll). Not only do you fail to accomplish whatever you had set out to do, but something horrible happens as well. The example I use most often is jumping over a 10 ft. gap. To do so, you need 2 successes on Eyrie, but you roll three 1's. Not only do you fall in, but you bash your head on the edge, take damage from that, and fall unconscious. Make sense?

Yes it does.

One thing I really wanted to accomplish with this system is to create a more visceral means of combat, exciting and not drawn out too terribly long (though perhaps not totally realistic). In it, your character trains with a certain Combat Style, though they can use any weapon. For example, you might have a spear, a sword, a dagger, and a bow, but your specific training is with the spear Combat Style. When you wish to attack, you pick a technique from that style and roll, adding a bonus from your training to a basic attack roll. No damage is rolled, because each technique with each weapon has a fixed damage. To suit this, character don't have much in the way of health, but they have multiple ways to protect themselves from harm, and an attack must be directed against a specific body part.